Heather A. Petersen
24 December 1970 — 13 January 2020
Heather Ann Petersen, beloved daughter, sister, aunt, and friend, unexpectedly passed away from sepsis on Monday, January 13, 2020, in Southern California.
The second daughter of Eyston and Barbara Petersen, Heather arrived in Las Vegas on Christmas Eve, 1970, a force of nature from her first breath. The family moved to Salt Lake City where she began school, demonstrating early her distinct flare for storytelling by creating a full play for her class; everyone had a part. Then, as a Taylorsville High School Warrior, she enjoyed the Pep Club, serving as president. Before her junior year, the family returned to Las Vegas, where Heather graduated from Chaparral High School and LDS Seminary. During this time, Heather developed a deep love of the Lord and His Gospel.
On her journey from high school in Nevada to a career in New York City, Heather repeatedly worked and saved to fund her education, first attending Snow College, a two-year institution in Ephraim, Utah, graduating with honors. Desiring to then serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Heather lived with her sister in Long Beach, California so she could work and save money. Heather was an exceptional missionary, assigned to the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Mission from 1993 to 1994. She then enrolled at Brigham Young University, paying for college by working on the landscaping crew, while also volunteering with the student newspaper, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a minor in English Literature.
At BYU, Heather secured a scholarship to cover living expenses for an unpaid internship at the Late Show with David Letterman, and after graduation she was hired to work directly with Mr. Letterman, managing Dave’s Indy Project with Child Advocates and the Late Show’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity. In addition to her work in television, Heather achieved significant success as a screenwriter, winning two major awards with her writing partner Colleen Schukei for The Important Man, the true story of Henry Beachell’s humanitarian effort that saved millions of lives in Asia.
For most of the time Heather worked in New York, she kept a home in Las Vegas. This allowed her to be close to her family, but she had recently moved to Los Angeles to take a position as a production coordinator at ABC Disney Studios.
In her early years in New York City, Heather would often swing by the theaters of her favorite shows around intermission, hoping to score a ticket from a departing patron so she could catch the last half of Phantom of the Opera or Miss Saigon, which was conveniently playing just a block south of the Ed Sullivan Theater where she worked. Whether it was beating the crowds to the Met’s latest fashion exhibit, procuring a UK iTunes account to access her favorite British television shows before they aired in the US, or reading buzzed-about novels the second they came out, Heather carefully curated the entertainment world for herself and others, using shared passions to forge connections to everyone in her sphere.
The practice of her faith continued to be central to Heather’s life. She often spoke of how sitting in a Manhattan chapel and hearing “The Spirit of God” sung with roof-raising fervor filled her with zeal and confidence for building a life in New York City. During her years there, she developed enduring relationships, professional and personal. She had a rare ability to make those around her feel much more interesting than they’d ever known themselves to be.
From climbing Machu Picchu to marching in support of women’s rights to racing to catch a Japanese bullet train, Heather was always on the move, embracing as many opportunities as she could to learn, to experience, and to live. She considered London a second home, and adored cheering for bullfighters in Andalusia, sharing a sticky toffee pudding with her mother in Ireland, availing herself of the exchange rate in Buenos Aires, snowmobiling across glaciers in Iceland, and searching for the endangered black rhinoceros in the Serengeti. In each locale, Heather had an uncanny gift for discovering the next big restaurant and obtaining even the most hard-to-come-by reservations.
But no matter how exotic or stimulating her destinations were, Heather was quick to say that nothing brought her greater joy than arriving at the home of one of her nieces or nephews to hear their exultant cries that Aunt Hehe had arrived. Indeed, as it turned out, Heather spent her last day of mortality at Disneyland with those children she loved more than anything.
Heather is survived by her parents Eyston and Barbara Petersen; sister and brother-in-law Holly and Craig Foster; brother Erik Petersen; nieces Haleigh Carter (Darryl Carter), Emileigh Wong (Micheal Wong), Ashleigh Foster, and Baileigh Brindley (Skyler Brindley); nephews Dallin and Devin Foster; grand-niece Leigha, grand-nephews Owen and Eyston Carter.
